A Critical Review on the Book "Cities and Consumption"

In the present article, the book " Cities and Consumption" written by Mark Jayne with a Persian translation by Morteza Ghalich was critically reviewed. Among the advantages of this book, we can refer to the views, theories, empirical backgrounds, case studies about the city, and consumption. The translation and writing of the book, despite providing important information about cities and consumption categories, need some critics, including the fact that despite the second edition of the book, the literary editing of translated texts was ignored and the inaccurate translation from the original texts is considerable. To the extent that some of the translated parts are incompatible with the original text of the book. Also, the content of the book does not provide a comprehensive explanation of the relationship between cities. In other words, the book has no theoretical or methodological presuppositions and the chapters are not formulated based on the main aim of the book. Jayne failed to explain the consumer and consumption status in the relationship between the structure of the political economy and the formation of the modern city and consumer society. He only considers consumption as an independent variable that is used by the consumer as a tool in shaping the modern city and everyday life; A claim that is not followed or substantiated in most parts of the book. Also, since the book is released in 2006, the statistical information and empirical backgrounds are not up to date.